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TORONTO -- Simon Whitfield is the quintessential Taurus: persistent, bull-headed and uninviting to change. Those traits have propelled the 37-year-old triathlete through hours upon hours of training.

Whitfield's obsession with pushing the limits and his passion for the outdoors have allowed him to accomplish more than he ever dreamt he could:

10 Canadian national championships, 14 World Cup victories, a Commonwealth Games gold medal, and two Olympic medals gold in Sydney, silver in Beijing.

"I had a great run," said Whitfield, who was the keynote speaker at a fitness and wellness convention in Toronto on Friday. "I did it because I love it."

Whitfield is not saying goodbye. Less than two weeks after crashing out of the triathlon in London, and with his cracked collarbone still tender, he is as committed to the sport as ever, even if his last Olympic appearance might be behind him.

He will keep the six-kilometre swims and two-hour indoor bike sessions in Victoria for the most part now. Extended training periods away from his wife Jennie, five-year-old daughter Pippa and two-year-old Evelyn will be mostly a thing of the past.

But Whitfield will not pull back his intensity - he simply does not know how.

"I'm going to race long course (a distance in between the Olympic triathlon and the Ironman), which is still an aspect of our sport that is very, very competitive," he said. "I really look forward to that challenge over the next two to three years." Whitfield will not rule out the possibility of competing at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro at age 41, though he acknowledges the considerable hurdles of such a vision. He has decided only not to decide.

Today, Whitfield is a mosaic of the races won and lost, and the lessons learned along the way. Ever present is the whimsical smile of that 25-year-old, wide-eyed kid from Kingston, Ont., who burst onto the scene by capturing gold at the 2000 Sydney Games. There is also the humbled man from Athens, who strayed from the discipline that brought him Olympic glory and finished 11th. There is the wiser competitor who altered his entire approach before earning a silver medal in Beijing, and of course, the bloodied rider who walked away from London with no regrets.

"I got there," he said. "I had a crack at it. I hit a speed bump, and that was just what happened." If there are any misgivings from London, they stem from his public outcry in the aftermath of Paula Findlay's last-place finish in the women's triathlon.

Whitfield was critical of how Findlay's team handled her training while recovering from a tear in her right hip.

"I should have shown more compassion," he said. Whitfield pointed the finger for Findlay's "completely mismanaged" injury at several members of her team, including her former coach, Patrick Kelly.

"Coach Pat worked tirelessly for her. That guy hasn't had a vacation in two years. I should have kept that in better perspective. I was defending my teammate, and in doing so, I swung a little too much."

With the Olympics behind him, Whitfield will divert at least a share of his attention towards a new triathlete-coaching endeavour, which will be a web-based initiative to assist and guide athletes who are interested in taking up the sport. He is also a proud supporter and fundraiser for KidSport, a non-profit organization that provides financial assistance and access for underprivileged youth.

The future of Canadian triathlon is a bright one, Whitfield said. "It's exciting. We've got some young guys that are coming up. Obviously, with (27-year-old Oakville, Ont., native) Kyle Jones competing in his first Olympics, and out on the east coast and west coast and here in Toronto, we've got young guys and girls who are ready to take up the charge."

On the world stage, Britain's Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonathan, who captured gold and bronze respectively in London, along with silver medallist Javier Gomez of Spain, are raising the bar for all future competitors to previously unattainable heights.

"If I hadn't crashed, I was not getting in those medals," said Whitfield, looking back on London. "Those guys took our sport to a new level." Whitfield is taking it to a different venue, as the public-speaking opportunities increase. He still gets nervous each time he approaches a podium. It is not his natural place.

His comfort zone is outdoors, knifing the water, steering his bike or pacing the road. The competitor will never be silenced.

"This is my livelihood," he said. "This is my life. I'm not going to go into it with a foot out the door."

National Post

rbarrs@nationalpost.com

Twitter.com/rorybarrs

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